Wind Swept Nights and Coffee Filled Mornings
by AllOverTheWorld
Summary: A collection of one-shots solely dedicated to my exploration of the relationship between our two favorite U.S. Marshals. Song's used as inspiration but NOT a song fic. Reviews make me happy. Happy Healthy. Healthy Good.
1. Home By:Daughtry

**This little story below is one of many that I will present to you as I try my best to figure out the relationships that our favorite IPS characters have. All of them will be inspired by some song I have on my Ipod with the lyrics that inspired me the most posted before the fic. When you press that REVIEW button the most helpful thing for me would be to tell my if I have the relationship(s) right. **

**Reviews make me happy **

**Happy=Healthy **

**Healthy=GOOD**

* * *

_Home By: Daughtry_

_I'm staring out into the night,  
Trying to hide the pain.  
I'm going to the place where love  
And feeling good don't ever cost a thing.  
And the pain you feel's a different kind of pain._

Well I'm going home,  
Back to the place where I belong,  
And where your love has always been enough for me.  
I'm not running from.  
No, I think you got me all wrong.  
I don't regret this life I chose for me.  
But these places and these faces are getting old,  
So I'm going home.  
Well I'm going home.

The anger was apparent in her stride by the way her heels clanked against the hardwood floor which served as a warning to anyone left in the house not to mess with her. As Mary grabbed her keys and walked out to her car, praying silently that it would work, she worked hard to keep the emotions she felt at bay. She could hear Raph's yelling behind her, telling her how sorry he was "It'll never happen again, I promise."

Those last words sent a shiver of anger down her spine and she paused, slipping the ring off her finger and throwing it at him. He caught it before staring open mouthed at the ring in his hand and up at Mary as she started the car. As she backed out of the drive way he tried to catch her but it was a desperate, heartless attempt so he just stood in the street watching as the car turned left and disappeared into the darkness.

Inside the car Mary's hands gripped the steering wheel so hard her knuckles were white and the tears rolling down her face reflected the green lights she drove through. Her mind swirled with the memories of the argument but it didn't matter to her all she could picture was what she had seen.

_Mary had come home earlier than normal and was excited just to be able to rest with Raph and 'hang out' as he liked to call it. Setting her keys down on the kitchen counter she started to walk towards their bedroom when she heard a noise coming from it. _

_It took her a second to realize what it was but when that part of her brain clicked she walked furiously towards the door. As she got closer the low moaning increased in volume along with the steady thud of the headboard hitting the wall. _

_Her stomach twisted and the tears began to rush to her eyes but she fought them off and reached out to open the door. The door swung open and she froze, her outline framed in the doorway. _

_Both of the figures stopped what they were doing and jumped apart "Mary I-"Ralph spluttered _

_Brandi on the other hand let out a squeal of terror and jumped out of the bed taking the sheet with her, trying to cover herself up. _

_Mary's heart plummeted and she turned away from them both forcing herself to remain as clam as she could. She took one calming breath and walked into the room and reached under her bed and grabbed the bag she kept packed for emergency calls from witnesses. _

_Raph reached out to grab her arm but she stepped away glaring at him "Don't touch me." She said icily "I do still have a weapon." She indicated to the gun holstered at her hip _

_He sat there stunned and watched as Mary walked out of the room and all the while Brandi stood, naked in the corner not daring to say a word. He got up and tried to speak but the words got stuck in his throat. He ran to the door with only a pillow to cover him and yelled "It won't happen again, I promise!" _

The tears rolled freely down her face as she drove and before she knew it she was parked outside of Marshall's apartment. She sat there, in her car, sobbing but couldn't bring herself to open the door and walk inside. Even in this state she hated the thought of Marshall seeing her like this, so….weak, defenseless even.

She reached for her phone and dialed his number, doing her best to sound like she was not crying. He answered on the third ring "Hey Mare." He said

She couldn't say anything, she couldn't do it. He would know instantly that something was wrong, so she hung up. Seconds later her phone buzzed in her hands and the ID read **RAPH** she pressed ignore and replayed the events of the past hour over in her head.

Each time she replayed Brandi shrieking and jumping off of Raph she fought the urge to vomit, how could _she _do this to her? Sure, Brandi never made the best decisions but she would never cross that line, or so Mary had thought.

A slight knocking on her car window jolted her out of her thoughts and she was surprised to see Marshall's concerned face staring at her from outside. She opened her door and she looked at him momentarily before closing the door and walking towards his apartment.

He followed knowing that she would tell him what was going on but judging by the lack of a ring of her finger this was serious. He closed the door behind him and watched as Mary looked at her phone before hitting ignore and throwing it into the couch. He picked it up and put it on the coffee table knowing she would want it in case a witness called.

It was the hardest thing for him to do, just stand there and watch as the tears rolled down her face and not know why she was hurting so badly. Finally she whispered "I can't go back."

"Why?" Marshall asked, probing slightly but not too much so that she would retreat back into her shell

"I just can't." she said not wanting to divulge the information that had drove her here, both literally and figuratively.

"Mare, I can't help you if I don't know what's going on." He said softly and took a step towards her

"They were having sex." She said blatantly "Brandi and Raph…In my bed." She said her volume rising from anger.

Marshall swallowed the anger that rose in his chest and wrapped his arms around her "I'm so sorry." He said

Mary was surprised, initially, by Marshall's presence but didn't fight it. Instead she found it oddly comforting and couldn't help but reply "Unless you know about it, you have nothing to be sorry for."

Marshall smiled sadly "I'm sorry that they hurt you like this." He whispered into her ear

The tears flowed freely once again and through the tears she said "I can't go back there. It only rips my heart out. First-first my father now this, I'm going to spontaneously combust if it happens again."

"I'll never hurt you." Marshall whispered before he could help himself

"I know." She said into his chest

It was only the next, after Marshall had walked her into his guest room and sat with her as she cried again and finally fell asleep, that Mary realized she was home. This place, this room, felt more like home than her house ever had.

Marshall was always there for her, in her darkest moments he would wait for her to tell him what was wrong. He never asked more than he had to; leaving it up to her to tell him what she wanted him to know. It was for that reason and many more that she knew this place was home.

* * *

**There you go, just a little bit of inspired work from me. **

**Reviews make me happy **

**Happy=Healthy **

**Healthy=GOOD**


	2. Photographs By: Nickelback

**I appreciate any and all reviews. **

* * *

_Every memory of looking out the back door_

_I had the photo album spread out on my bedroom floor_

_It's hard to say_

_It's time to say it_

_Goodbye, Goodbye_

_Every memory of walking out the front door_

_I found the photo of the friend that I was looking for_

_It's hard to say_

_It's time to say it_

_Goodbye, Goodbye_

_Photograph By: Nickleback_

* * *

Three years.

"Bye Mary." Stan said as he walked out of the office flipping the lights of behind him. She didn't respond but he didn't expect her to, she hardly spoke anymore unless it was to a witness but even then it was to the point.

Mary watched out of the corner of her eyes as the elevator doors closed and Stan's concerned face was gone. She knew he worried about her, she knew everyone worried about her but she didn't care. _Let them worry. _She thought reaching into her desk drawer and pulling out the half empty bottle of Scotch.

As she pulled it out her fingers hit something hard, something wooden. She set the bottle down on the table and reached down into the dark recesses of this drawer and pulled out a box. She stared at it blankly before turning it to see if she had labeled it. Her heart froze; this had to be some cruel twist of fate.

Why did she have to find those box today, she had reached into that drawer to get that bottle of Scotch countless times in the past month or so and never once had she realized it was in here.

With her hands shaking she lifted the lid off and looked down at the contents of the box. There were three things inside, _strange_, she thought,_ to only put three things in here_. She reached in and pulled out his badge and gun looking at the items with a strange reverence. She held the gun in her hands, feeling the careful way it didn't fit her hand but would fit his perfectly.

An agent's gun was an extension of themselves; it was the best friend that got you out of every situation and the friend that would never betray you. Holding the gun in her hand felt wrong, like she was breaking some sort of unwritten rule so she set it down next to the badge.

Slowly Mary reached in and picked up the last object in the box, the object she held closest to her heart but had forgotten about for so long. She set it down on the table and started at it trying to fight the tears that sprung to her eyes.

It was a photograph, the one she had found and gotten framed a few weeks before he was shot. She smiled as the memories of the photographs flooded her mind, pushing away all the tears.

"_Come on Mare!" he pleaded a stupid grin slapped across his face _

"_No way numbnuts, not in a million years." She argued "I refuse to dress up as a western cowboy with you and take an idiotic picture." _

"_You know you want to." He teased and started pulling her towards the building _

_Mary tried to hide the smile that played at the corners of her mouth but Marshall saw it and wrapped his arm around her waist pulling her close. "Don't you want to see me as a cowboy?" he whispered playfully _

"_Fine, but you're paying." Mary consented and they walked to the building _

"_Of course." Marshal said and laughed _

_Half an hour later the two of them walked out of their appropriate stalls and burst out laughing. Marshall was in jeans, chaps, a flannel shirt and a cowboy hat and Mary was in the exact same. _

"_You didn't expect me to put on a skirt did you?" _

"_No." Marshall said but he was lying, he had had a tiny sliver of hope she would but, this was Mary he was thinking about. _

_Another five minutes and they walked out of the building back into the amusement park both peering at the pictures they held. _

_Marshall was tickling Mary and much to his delight the photographer took the picture. It was framed by a WANTED sign. It fit them they had agreed, but only after Marshall had bought Mary an ice cream to make up for the tickling. _

She shook herself out of her memories but could no longer stop the tears from falling down her face "I'm sorry Marshall. I'm so sorry." She repeated over and over again.

She blamed herself for his death, like he blamed himself for her getting shot the year before his death. She would replay the moment over and over again trying to figure out how she could have saved him but she knew there was no way. Still, that didn't stop her from blaming herself.

She drank the rest of the Scotch within the hour and soon after that was passed out across her desk. In her dreams she was there with Marshall taking endless rides in the amusement never having to go back to the reality of life.

Stan came back in the next morning to find Mary slumped across the desk, empty bottle of Scotch, Marshall's badge and gun and a photograph lying next to her. As he walked towards her, to wake her, he heard she was muttering to herself. "I'm sorry Marshall. I'm so sorry."

He sighed and turned away, he had realized what day it was after he had gotten home and suddenly all of Mary's strange behavior had made sense. Turning back he put the gun and badge back in the box and slipped it into the desk drawer along with the bottle of whiskey.

However he set the picture up on her desk, hoping she wouldn't flip out at him for touching it. As he watched his marshal sleep he thought of the moment he had found out Marshall had died, how Mary had disappeared only to be found at the crime scene.

She would never fully recover from it but she had never said good-bye either. He hoped that after what ever happened last night she would be able to say good-bye and move on. It sounded cruel but that's what she needed, she would never forget him but-

The sounds of movement from Mary's desk shook Stan out of his hopes. "Morning." He said and smiled

"Morning." Mary said and to his astonishment rearranged the picture so that it was facing her and smile at him. "I'm getting coffee, want anything?"

* * *

**Okay so I wrote this in 50 minutes (my lunch period) and I hope you like. Just a little inspiration. **

**Should have warned you about the character death but some people don't read it otherwise. **


End file.
